Car-brake



(No Model.)

W. F1 GIBBS.

GAR BRAKE.

- Patented Jne 28, 1892.,

`- TNVE/v of? BY A ATTORNEYS.

UNITE 'raras WILLIAM F. GIBBS, OF AUBURN, NEW YORK.

CAR-BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 478,003, dated June 28,189,2. Application filed March 10, 1892. Serial No. 424,418. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern,.-

Be it. known that I, WILLIAM F. GIBBs, of Auburn, in the county ofCayuga and State of N ew York, have invented a new and ImprovedCar-Brake, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

My invention relates to improvements in car-brakes, and especially tostreet-car brakes. Y In electric street-cars there is but littleunoccupied space beneath the cars, and it is desirable to have a brakemechanism which will have the necessary power and which will occupy butlittle space.

The object of my invention is to produce a simple form of brakemechanism which will meet this requirement and which may also beadjusted so that the brake-shoes shall be simultaneously and with equalforce applied to boththe front and rear wheels of a car.

T0 this end my invention consists in certain parts and details andcombinations of the same, as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar figures of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a broken vertical section on the line 1 1 in Fig. 2, showingthe application of the brakes and brake mechanism to a car and to thecar-wheels. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2 2 in Fig. 1, andFig. 3 is a detail sectional view of the crank-arm and its connectionsfor operating the brakes.

In the drawings, 10 represents the bottom of the car, 11 its wheels, and12 the brakeshoes, which are of the usual kind and which are suspendedfrom the car-bottom by means of rods 13 or from the trucks in the usualway, the shoes being held so'as to be pressed against the faces of thewheels.

A squared rod 14 extends transversely beneath the car and about midwaybetween the front and rear wheels 11, the rod having cylindrical endswhich are journaled in supports 15, attached to the car-bottom, althoughthe rod may be supported in any convenient way. The rod is provided witha central crank-arm 16, which is normally held by a spring 16a, so as tothrow the brakes out of engagement with the wheels, and this crank-armhas a segmental free end 17, which is recessed, as shown at 18,

and which is adapted to be secured to a chain 19, which chain connectswith a crank or its equivalent for operating the brakes in the usualmanner. Fixedto the rod 14 near the ends are disks 20, and each disk ispivotally connected with a pairof arms 21,'these arms being secured tothe disk on opposite sides of the rod 14 and made to extend in oppositedirections. The outer ends of the arms 2l are pivoted to the upper endsof similar and oppositelyarranged levers 22,. which are arranged in anearly-vertical position beneath the car and are fulcrumed on journaledpins 23, the levers being thickened opposite the pins to give them thenecessary strength, and the pins of the two levers are connected bystraps 24, so that the levers may have a rigid fulcrum and be able tomove in unison.

The journal-pins 23 are held to move in curved slots 25, which areproduced Vin the side pieces 26 of a fender 27, this fender and sidepieces being'similar to that on the most common form of electriccarsg-butwhere a similar support is not found on the cars the pins maybe held to move in any suitable bearing, or the brake will worksuccessfully even though the pins are not supported by bearings. Thelower ends of the levers 22 are pivotally connected with rods 28, eachlever being connected to a rod independently and the rods being made toextend backward and forward, so as to connect with the brake-shoes ofthe front and rear wheels. The rod 28 of the forward lever extendsbackward and the rod of the rearlever forward, as shown in Fig. 1.

The rods 28 are each connected to a turnbuckle or nut 29, and theseconnect with hooks 30, which are secured to the backs of the brakeshoe12. The arrangement of levers above described is produced ou each sideof the car, as shown in Fig. 2, and it will be seen that the entiremechanism Will occupy but little space. It is only necessary to move thecrank- Y arm 16 by means of the chains 19 to apply the brake, as thismovement will'turn the rod 14 and the disks 20, which movement of thedisks will move the arms 21in the opposite directions, thus pushing theupper ends of the levers 22 apart, and when these upper ends arel pushedapart the lower ends will be moved IOO , and forcing the brake-shoestoward each other, thus actuating the rods 2R firmly upon the wheels ll.4

It will be seen that if the brake-shoes are irregular the lost motionthus produced may be compensated for by simply turning one of the nuts29, and the mechanism may thus be quickly and easily adjusted, so thatthe shoes will always bear evenly upon both the front y and rear wheels.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters y Patentl. The combination, with the brake-shoessuspended from the car and adapted to engage the wheels, of leversarranged betweenthe front and rear wheels and having connected fulcrums,adjustable rods connecting the lower ends of the levers with thebrake-shoes, a crank-shaft journaled beneath the car-bot- I tom andprovided with disks, and oppositelyextending arms secured to oppositesides of the disks and also to the free ends of the levers,substantially as described.

2. A car-brake comprising brake-shoes suspended from the car-bottomadjacent to the wheels, levers arranged in pairs on opposite sides ofthe car and between the front and rear wheels, said levers havingmovable and connected fulcrums, rods connecting the lower ends of thelevers with the brake-shoes, and a crank mechanism for operating thelevers, substantially as described.

3. A car-brake comprising brake-shoes suspended adjacent to the wheels,levers arranged in pairs on opposite sides of the car between the frontand rear wheels, pins forming the Vfulcrums of the levers and held toslide in bearings, straps connecting the pins of each pair of levers,adjustable rods connecting the lower ends of the levers with thebrake-shoes,

' and a crank mechanism for operating the le-

